Happily Ever Present
by Sailor Grape
Summary: Slivers of time passages following The incident. Mac and Dick attempt to cope with the situation and one another. Less angsty than it sounds. Spoilers for s2 finale.


Title: Happily Ever Present 

Author: GrapeSmshr

Rated: K+

Coupling: Mac/Dick

Disclaimer: Insert reality here.

Thanks to: My sis, Otownroxx, for beta'ing and keeping my charas in check... She's the reason I became obsessed with VM in the first place.

Posted on: June 1, 2006

A/N: This is my first VM fic... I started writing a Mac/Cass fic before the season finale... After watching it, I took on the slogan of "Finale? What finale?" It's fun being in denial. But even that didn't help me want to finish that fic. So, after my abandonment, I jumped on the Mac/Dick bandwagon and cranked out this baby. Hopefully it does them justice. Read on and enjoy!

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She had been mulling over this, painstakingly agonizing over it for weeks. Days. Minutes. Excruciatingly endless seconds. And she finally reached a conclusion. "Dick," she announced with finality.

"What?" the person sitting next to her asked lazily.

"Not you," Mac clarified. "Cassidy."

It was the first time she had said his name aloud since "The Incident." Almost two months had passed. She had gone through more stages of grief than she thought existed. But at least she was finally coming to terms with it. She was finally at a place of semi-normal functioning. Her reasoning was betrayed by her choice of venue, though, as she gently ran her hands over the grass at the foot of Cassidy's grave.

The day after the funeral, she had come to the cemetery because she wanted to be close to him but still feel relief at the layers of earth separating them. Sometime later Dick had joined her, sitting down on the ground without a word or glance in her direction. Hours later, the twilight giving the marble stone a ghostly glow, she rose to take her leave. She opened her mouth to say something but promptly stopped herself in the realization that anything she said would be fruitless. She left him behind staring into nothingness.

The next day she had returned, and so had he. It was a repeat of the day previous. So was the rest of the week. It wasn't until the following week that any words were spoken. Dick, upon sitting down, had leaned close to her and said with a casual shrug, "Dude, this is, like, totally depressing." His seemingly careless words had basically summed up the situation quite accurately.

Shortly after, they both left in opposite directions.

Mac was more than a little surprised the next morning when she answered the insistent blaring of the doorbell and discovered Dick on her front porch. They stared at one another for a few moments before he said with an apologetic shrug, "I ran out of video games."

Stepping aside, she let him in. The house was empty save her; the family had very reluctantly left on one of their annual family-togetherness vacations. Mac had declined, needing some time to be alone. But the past four days of quiet had been quite unnerving. She found herself actually grateful for Dick's presence.

The rest of the week followed the same way. Dick would arrive in the morning, and they would watch movies all day long. Rather, Mac would defend her movie collection as Dick complained that the plots were all too intricate (his exact words being, "They, like, make my brain hurt too much to think about them." Mac had wisely not commented.), so they abandoned the movies and ambled into the kitchen, where Mac would fix meals of any microwavable items she could find. She wasn't brave enough to actually use the stove, as she figured her family would be a bit upset if the house burned down.

For two people who were pretty much exact opposites, they interacted rather well with one another. Mac was pleasantly alarmed at how much she had grown to depend on Dick's company in such a short amount of time. He was nothing like--well, he was definitely his own person.

It was another week before Dick kissed her. They were sitting on her living room floor watching some insanely stupid movie. Mac had nudged his shoulder and made some random comment on the b-rate acting. One minute she was laughing, the next she was being kissed. It was over in the blink of an eye. Dick had quickly turned back to the movie. Mac, too shocked to even speak, did the same. When he left after the movie, they barely mumbled goodbyes to one another.

When Dick returned the next morning, the awkwardness between them quickly dissipated as they fell into their old routine. That evening, when he kissed her again, she responded with an eagerness that both thrilled and frightened her.

They spent the remainder of the evening on her living room floor, kissing and occasionally paying attention to the movie, eventually falling asleep propped up against the couch and leaning against one another.

The next few weeks were spent vastly the same way, alternating to a spacious apartment that Dick had rented ("I just can't be in that house right now.") when Mac's family returned. Her parents, though weary about her staying out all night most nights, trusted their daughter's better judgment and so allowed the actions to continue. They even took a liking to Dick, who had been invited over for dinner on a couple of occasions when the two couldn't leave the house before being stopped.

Mac had spent copious amounts of time both contemplating and not contemplating Dick's and her relationship, if she could even classify it as such. They had yet to discuss those parameters, but she figured since their current situation was working, why question it?

Even though they knew it was a topic that would have to be addressed, they always just danced around anything having to do with "The Incident." If things got too hot and heavy, Mac would urge Dick to slow down. If they stumbled across something that reminded them of Cassidy, they mumbled awkwardly and pushed it aside. They finally decided that enough was enough; they had to deal to move on. Which was how they found themselves at the cemetery.

"You think my little brother was a dick?" Dick asked incredulously. Then he thought about it for a moment and gave a mirthless chuckle. "I think so, too"

Mac paused as she tried to find the best way to express her thoughts. "There were so many sides to Cassidy," she began, almost choking on his name. But she took a deep breath and continued. "There was the side that always got picked on--by everyone," she emphasized when Dick went to protest. "There was the side that I was privy to, the sensitive and lovable spaz." She swallowed thickly. "And then there was _that_ side." By the grim look on Dick's face, she knew he needed no elaboration. She didn't know if she would have been able to anyway.

"I just... I mean, he could've talked to someone before it came to... _that_. I just wish..." she trailed off, not trusting her voice to continue. Tears had begun to form, and she rapidly blinked them back.

"I know. Me too." Dick wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. They sat in silence for a while until he asked, "Do you think he would mind? About us?"

"He'd never believe it," she laughed softly, pressing herself further into his embrace. In fact, no one would believe it. That's why she was glad it was summer and that school was officially over. Who needed to add to all of the drama that they were still sorting through?

Dick must have had a momentary bout of perceptiveness because he took her chin in his free hand and gently turned her head to face him. "Hey. It doesn't matter about anyone else. It's you and me against the world now, babe." He gave her his trademark lopsided grin.

Mac shook her head as she chuckled. "You're not going to drop me as soon as you find an upgrade?" she teased, cursing inwardly at the insecurity that seeped through.

Closing the space between them, Dick gathered her in his arms and kissed her fiercely, erasing any doubts that Mac harbored. "Dude, as far as I'm concerned, _you_ are the upgrade." A gentle kiss was pressed to her temple, and they leaned their heads together as the silence engulfed them once more.

Mac was never one to believe in fairy tales, even when she was a kid. Happily Ever After was a great thought, sure, but she was content with her Happily Ever Present.

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The end!

I was just amazed at how this story virtually wrote itself... I love when they do that. I hope it was at least somewhat enjoyable. Please drop me a line! I want to know if it's safe to start on a new fic or if I should give up and hide under a bed somewhere. Thanks for reading!


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